THE MARKS

PERIOD

USE A PERIOD [ . ] AT THE END OF A SENTENCE that makes a statement. There

is no space between the last letter and the period. Use one space
between the period and the first letter of the next sentence. This goes
against the grain for people using the typography instilled by
generations of old-fashioned typewriter users, but modern word-
processors nicely accommodate the spacing after a period, and
double-spacing after a period can only serve to discombobulate the
good intentions of one's software. If one is using a mono­space 
font (like Courier) to reproduce the effect of an old­
fashioned typewriter, then using a double­space after a 
period would, indeed, be a good idea.  This might be useful
to remember if one's e­mail client uses Courier, but 
usually e­mail fonts are determined by the receiver's e­
mail program, so Courier is apt to be translated into 
another font like Times New Roman or Geneva anyway. 

See Quotation Marks and Parentheses for special placement

considerations with those marks.

Use a period at the end of a command.

 Hand in the poster essays no later than noon on Friday.

 In case of tremors, leave the building immediately.

Use a period at the end of an indirect question.

 The teacher asked why Maria had left out the easy exercises.
 My father used to wonder why Egbert's ears were so big.

Use a period with abbreviations:

Dr. Espinoza arrived from Washington, D.C., at 6 p.m.
Notice that when the period ending the abbreviation comes at the end
of a sentence, it will also suffice to end the sentence. On the other
hand, when an abbreviation ends a question or exclamation, it is
appropriate to add a question mark or exclamation mark after the
abbreviation-ending period:
Did you enjoy living in Washington, D.C.?
Occasionally, a statement will end with a question. When that
happens, it is appropriate to end the sentence with a question mark.
 We can get to Boston quicker, can't we, if we take the interstate?
 His question was, can we end this statement with a question mark?
  She ended her remarks with a resounding why not?

Acronyms (abbreviations [usually made up of the first letter from a

series of words] which we pronounce as words, not a series of
letters) usually do not require periods: NATO, NOW, VISTA, LASER,
SCUBA, RADAR. Abbreviations we pronounce by spelling out the
letters may or may not use periods and you will have to use a
dictionary to be sure: FBI, NAACP, NCAA, U.S.A., U.N.I.C.E.F., etc.

USE A QUESTION MARK [ ? ] AT THE END OF A DIRECT QUESTION. It is considered

bad form to use a question mark in combination with other marks,
although that is often done in informal prose in an attempt to convey
complex tones: He told you what!? That combination (or similar
combination) of punctuation marks is sometimes called an
interrobang, but the interrobang currently has no role in academic
prose.*

A tag question is a device used to turn a statement into a question.

It nearly always consists of a pronoun, a helping verb, and sometimes
the word not. Although it begins as a statement, the tag question
prevails when it comes to the end-mark: use a question mark. Notice
that when the statement is positive, the tag question is expressed in
the negative; when the statement is negative, the tag question is
positive. (There are a few exceptions to this, frequently expressing an
element of surprise or sarcasm: "So you've made your first million,
have you?" "Oh, that's your plan, is it?") The following are more
typical tag questions:

 He should quit smoking, shouldn't he?

 He shouldn't have quit his diet, should he?
 They're not doing very well, are they?
 He finished on time, didn't he?
 She does a beautiful job, doesn't she?
 Harold may come along, mightn't he?
 There were too many people on the dock, weren't there?
Be careful of this last one; it's not "weren't they."

Be careful not to put a question mark at the end of an indirect

question.
The instructor asked the students what they were doing.
 I asked my sister if she had a date.
Be careful to distinguish between an indirect question (above), and a
question that is embedded within a statement which we do want to
end with a question mark.
 We can get to Boston quicker, can't we, if we take the interstate?
 His question was, can we end this statement with a question mark?
 She ended her remarks with a resounding why not?

Put a question mark at the end of a sentence that is, in fact, a direct
question. (Sometimes writers will simply forget.) Rhetorical
questions (asked when an answer is not really expected), by the
way, are questions and deserve to end with a question mark:
 How else should we end them, after all?
 What if I said to you, "You've got a real problem here"? (Notice that the
question mark here comes after the quotation mark and there is no period
at the end of the statement.)

Sometimes a question will actually end with a series of brief

questions. When that happens, especially when the brief questions
are more or less follow-up questions to the main question, each of the
little questions can begin with a lowercase letter and end with a
question mark.
 Who is responsible for executing the plan? the coach? the coaching staff?
the players?

If a question mark is part of an italicized or underlined title, make

sure that the question mark is also italicized:
 My favorite book is Where Did He Go?

(Do not add a period after such a sentence that ends with the title's
question mark. The question mark will also suffice to end the
sentence.) If the question mark is not part of a sentence-ending title,
don't italicize the question mark:
 Did he sing the French national anthem, la Marseillaise?

When a question ends with an abbreviation, end the abbreviation with

a period and then add the question mark.
 Didn't he used to live in Washington, D.C.?

When a question constitutes a polite request, it is usually not

followed by a question mark. This becomes more true as the request
becomes longer and more complex:
 Would everyone in the room who hasn't received an ID card please move
to the front of the line.

Use an exclamation point [ ! ] at the end of an emphatic

declaration, interjection, or command.
 "No!" he yelled. "Do it now!"
An exclamation mark may be used to close questions that are meant
to convey extreme emotion, as in

What on earth are you doing! Stop!

An exclamation mark can be inserted within parentheses to
emphasize a word within a sentence.

We have some really(!) low-priced rugs on sale this week.

Note that there is no space between the last letter of the word so
emphasized and the parentheses. This device should be used rarely, if
ever, in formal text.
An exclamation mark will often accompany mimetically produced
sounds, as in

"All night long, the dogs woof! in my neighbor's yard" and

"The bear went Grr!, and I went left."

If an exclamation mark is part of an italicized or underlined title, make
sure that the exclamation mark is also italicized or underlined:

My favorite book is Oh, the Places You'll Go!

(Do not add a period after such a sentence that ends with the title's
exclamation mark. The exclamation mark will also suffice to end the
sentence.) If the exclamation mark is not part of a sentence-ending
title, don't italicize the exclamation mark:

I've asked you not to sing la Marseillaise!

In academic prose, an exclamation point is used rarely, if at all, and in
newspaper writing the exclamation point is virtually nonexistent.

Use a colon [ : ] before a list or an explanation that is preceded by

a clause that can stand by itself. Think of the colon as a gate, inviting
one to go on:

There is only one thing left to do now: confess while you still have time.
The charter review committee now includes the following people:
the mayor
the chief of police
the fire chief
the chair of the town council
You nearly always have a sense of what is going to follow or be on the
other side of the colon. (Compare the function of a semicolon in this
regard.) You will find differing advice on the use of a colon to
introduce a vertical or display list. See Using Numbers and Creating
Lists.
We will often use a colon to separate an independent clause from a
quotation (often of a rather formal nature) that the clause introduces:

The acting director often used her favorite quotation from

Shakespeare's Tempest: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on;
and our little life is rounded with a sleep."
With today's sophisticated word-processing programs (which know
how much space to put after punctuation marks), we insert only one
space (hit the space-bar only once) after a colon.

It might be useful to say, also, when we don't use a colon.

Remember that the clause that precedes the mark (where you're
considering a colon) ought to be able to stand on its own as an
independent clause. Its purpose might be strictly to introduce the
clause that follows, so it might feel rather incomplete by itself, but
grammatically it will have both a subject and a predicate. In other
words, we would not use a colon in situations like the following:

 Her recipe for gunpowder included saltpeter, dry oatmeal, and ground-
up charcoal briquets. (no colon after "included")
 His favorite breakfast cereals were Rice Krispies, Cheerios, and
Wheaties. (no colon after "were")
 Her usual advice, I remember, was "Keep your head up as you push the
ball up the court." (no colon after "was")

One of the most frequently asked questions about colons is whether

we should begin an independent clause that comes after a colon with
a capital letter. If the independent clause coming after the colon is a
formal quote, begin that quoted language with a capital letter.

Whitehead had this to say about writing style: "Style is the ultimate
morality of mind."
If the explanatory statement coming after a colon consists of more
than one sentence, begin the independent clause immediately after
the colon with a capital letter:

There were two reasons for a drop in attendance at NBA games this
season: First, there was no superstar to take the place of Michael
Jordan. Second, fans were disillusioned about the misbehavior of
several prominent players.
If the introductory phrase preceding the colon is very brief and the
clause following the colon represents the real business of the
sentence, begin the clause after the colon with a capital letter:

Remember: Many of the prominent families of this New England state

were slaveholders prior to 1850.
If the function of the introductory clause is simply to introduce, and
the function of the second clause (following the colon) is to express a
rule, begin that second clause with a capital:

Let us not forget this point: Appositive phrases have an entirely

different function than participial phrases and must not be regarded
as dangling modifiers.
There is some disagreement among writing reference manuals about
when you should capitalize an independent clause following a colon.
Most of the manuals advise that when you have more than one
sentence in your explanation or when your sentence(s) is a formal
quotation, a capital is a good idea. The NYPL Writer's Guide urges
consistency within a document; the Chicago Manual of Style says you
may begin an independent clause with a lowercase letter unless it's
one of those two things (a quotation or more than one sentence). The
APA Publication Manual is the most extreme: it advises us to always
capitalize an independent clause following a colon. The advice given
above is consistent with the Gregg Reference Manual.
We also use a colon after a salutation in a business letter . . .

Dear Senator Dodd:

It has come to our attention that . . . . .

semicolon [ ; ]

 to help sort out a monster list:

There were citizens from Bangor, Maine; Hartford, Connecticut;

Boston, Massachusetts; and Newport, Rhode Island.
OR
We had four professors on our committee: Peter Wursthorn,
Professor of Mathematics; Ronald Pepin, Professor of English;
Cynthia Greenblatt, Professor of Education; and Nada Light,
Professor of Nursing.

 to separate closely related independent clauses:

My grandmother seldom goes to bed this early; she's afraid she'll

miss out on something.

The semicolon allows the writer to imply a relationship between nicely

balanced ideas without actually stating that relationship. (Instead of
saying because my grandmother is afraid she'll miss out on
something, we have implied the because. Thus the reader is involved
in the development of an idea—a clever, subliminal way of engaging
the reader's attention.)
It is rare, but certainly possible, that you will want a semicolon to
separate two independent clauses even when those two independent
clauses are connected by a coordinating conjunction. This is
especially true when the independent clauses are complex or lengthy
and when there are commas within those independent clauses. You
might consider breaking those two independent clauses into separate
sentences when this happens.
 Coach Auriemma realized that his next recruiting class contained two
superb guards, a fine post player, and a power forward; but as of the end of
the spring recruiting season, he was still pushing to discover better first-
year players for the interior positions.

HYPHEN

ALTHOUGH SMART WORD-PROCESSORS SEEM TO HAVE TAKEN OVER the job of

hyphenating broken words at the right-hand end of our lines and
spellcheckers can review our use of hyphens in other places, these
technological marvels are by no means infallible. Microsoft Word, for
example, flags as mispelled almost any word with an unhyphenated
prefix: antidiscrimination and cogeneration, for example, are marked
as misspelled words and re-sign, co-bra, ever-green, and be-loved are
marked as correctly hyphenated words by that software.* Generally, it
is a good idea not to use justified text in academic papers; that will
cut down on a lot of decisions about hyphenating. The APA Publication
Manual, in fact, insists that you not break words at line-endings in any
case, but that can lead to lines that are too brief and aesthetically
unbalanced.

The rules for hyphenating at line endings are so complicated that no

one can be expected to keep track of them. If you're ever in a
situation where you have to hyphenate at line-breaks, go to a
dictionary—unless you can explain why you would break experience
between the e and the r, that is, and then you can do whatever you
want. Remember that if you adjust one line-break, that may well
affect subsequent line-breaks in the text. Probably the best reference
text for these decisions (next to looking up everything in a dictionary,
that is) is The Chicago Manual of Style.

Hyphens have other uses

a. creating compound words, particularly modifiers before nouns (the well-

known actor, my six-year-old daughter, the out-of-date curriculum
b. writing numbers twenty-one to ninety-nine and fractions (five-eighths,
one-fourth)
 c. creating compounds on-the-fly for fly-by-night organizations
d. adding certain prefixes to words: When a prefix comes before a capitalized
word or the prefix is capitalized, use a hyphen (non-English, A-frame, I-
formation). The prefixes self-, all-, and ex- nearly always require a hyphen
(ex-husband, all-inclusive, self-control), and when the prefix ends with the
same letter that begins the word, you will often use a hyphen (anti-
intellectual, de-emphasize), but not always (unnatural, coordinate,
cooperate). For further information about compound nouns and compound
modifiers, see the separate section on Compound Words.

There is no space between a hyphen and the character on either side

of it.
Suspended Compounds
With a series of nearly identical compounds, we sometimes delay the
final term of the final term until the last instance, allowing the hyphen
to act as a kind of place holder, as in
 The third- and fourth-grade teachers met with the parents.
 Both full- and part-time employees will get raises this year.
 We don't see many 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children around here.

Be careful not to overuse this feature of the hyphen; readers have to

wait until that final instance to know what you're talking about, and
that can be annoying.

DASH
The dash is a handy device, informal and esentially playful,
telling you that you're about to take off on a different tack but
still in some way connected with the present course — only
you have to remember that the dash is there, and either put a
second dash at the end of the notion to let the reader know
that he's back on course, or else end the sentence, as here,
with a period.
__
Lewis Thomas

Use a dash [ — ] (or two hyphens [ -- ] on old-fashioned

typewriters) or dashes as a super-comma or set of super-commas to
set off parenthetical elements, especially when those elements
contain internal forms of punctuation:

All four of them—Bob, Jeffrey, Jason, and Brett—did well in college.

In most word-processors, the dash is created by holding down the
option key and hitting the key that has the underline mark above the
hyphen. This can vary, though, from program to program. Usually,
you get an en dash (see below) with the option + hyphen key, and
you get the larger em dash (used more frequently) with option + shift
+ hyphen keys.
Do not use dashes to set apart material when commas would do the
work for you. Usually, there are no spaces between the dash and the
letters on either side of a dash, although the dash is frequently shown
that way in documents prepared for the World Wide Web and e-mail
for typographical and aesthetic reasons (because the WWW authoring
and e-mail clients have little control over line-breaks).

In writing dialogue, the dash is used to show breaks in thought and shifts in tone:

"How many times have I asked you not to —" Jasion suddenly
stopped talking and looked out the window.
"Not to do what?" I prompted.
"Not to — Oh heck, I forget!"

A dash is sometimes used to set off concluding lists and explanations

in a more informal and abrupt manner than the colon. We seldom see
the dash used this way in formal, academic prose.
Modern word processors provide for two kinds of dashes: the regular
dash or em dash (which is the same width as the letter "M," — ) and
the en dash (which is about half the width, the same as the letter "N,"
– ). We use the em dash for most purposes and keep its smaller
brother, the en dash, for marking the space between dates in a
chronological range: "Kennedy's presidency (1961–1963) marked an
extraordinary era. . . ."; in time: 6:30–8:45 p.m.; and between
numbers and letters in an indexing scheme: table 13–C, CT Statute
144–A.
The en dash is also used to join compound modifiers made up of
elements that are themselves either open compounds (frequently
two-word proper nouns) or already hyphenated compounds: the
Puerto Rican–United States collaboration, the New York–New Jersey
border, post-Darwinian–pre-Freudian theorems. The Gregg Reference
Manual and the Chicago Manual of Style both recommend using the
en dash whenever a compound modifier is combined with a participle
as in "a Frank Lloyd Wright–designed building," "a White House–
backed proposal," and "a foreign exchanged–related issue." A string of
modifiers in a single compound, though, is joined with hyphens:
hilarious, never-to-be-forgotten moments. If you are using an old-
fashioned typewriter that cannot create an en dash, you can denote
to your typesetter or editor that a hyphen is to be converted to an en
dash by using a hyphen and hand-writing the letter "n" above it.
Some reference manuals are urging editors and publishers to get rid
of the en dash altogether and to use the em dash exclusively, but en
and em are still handy words to know when you're trying to get rid of
those extra e's at the end of a Scrabble game. Finally, we use what is
called a 3-em dash (or six typewriter hyphens) when we're showing
that someone's name or a word has been omitted (perhaps for legal
reasons or issues of taste):

Professors ______ and ______ were suspended without pay for their refusal to grade
papers.

PARENTHESES

USE PARENTHESES [ ( ) ] TO INCLUDE MATERIAL THAT YOU WANT TO DE-EMPHASIZE or

that wouldn't normally fit into the flow of your text but you want to
include nonetheless. If the material within parentheses appears within
a sentence, do not use a capital letter or end-mark to punctuate that
material, even if the material is itself a complete sentence. If the
material within your parentheses is written as a separate sentence
(not included within another sentence), punctuate it as if it were a
separate sentence.

 Thirty-five years after his death, Robert Frost (we remember him at
Kennedy's inauguration) remains America's favorite poet.
 Thirty-five years after his death, Robert Frost remains America's favorite
poet. (We remember him at Kennedy's inauguration.)

If the material is important enough, use some other means of

including it within your text—even if it means writing another
sentence. Note that parentheses tend to de-emphasize text whereas
dashes tend to make material seem even more important.

BRACKETS

Use brackets [ [ ] ] in the following situations:

You can use them to include explanatory words or phrases within

quoted language:

Lew Perkins, the Director of Athletic Programs, said that Pumita

Espinoza, the new soccer coach [at Notre Dame Academy] is going to
be a real winner.
If you are quoting material and you've had to change the
capitalization of a word or change a pronoun to make the material fit
into your sentence, enclose that changed letter or word(s) within
brackets:

Espinoza charged her former employer with "falsification of [her]

coaching record."
See the description of the ellipsis for information on using brackets to
set off an ellipsis that you have used to indicate omitted language in a
quotation.
Also within quotations, you could enclose [sic] within brackets to show
that misspelled words or inappropriately used words are not your
typos or blunders but are part of an accurately rendered quotation:

Reporters found three mispelings [sic] in the report.

(It is bad manners, however, to use this device to show that another
writer is a lousy speller or otherwise unlettered.)
If you have italicized or underlined words within quoted language that
was not italicized or underlined in the original, you can note that
change in brackets included within the sentence or paragraph:

It was the atmosphere of the gym that thrilled Jacobs, not the eight
championship banners hanging from the beams [italics added].
("Italics mine" or "emphasis added" would be other acceptable phrases.)
You can use brackets to include parenthetical material inside
parenthetical material:

Chernwell was poet laureate of Bermuda (a largely honorary position

[unpaid]) for ten years.
Be kind to your reader, however, and use this device sparingly.

ELLIPSIS (SUSPENSION)

AN ELLIPSIS [ . . . ] PROVES TO BE A HANDY DEVICE when you're quoting

material and you want to omit some words. The ellipsis consists of
three evenly spaced dots (periods) with spaces between the ellipsis
and surrounding letters or other marks. Let's take the sentence, "The
ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes from the Caribbean who
were visiting the U.S." and leave out "from the Caribbean who were":
The ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes . . . visiting the U.S.

If the omission comes at the end of a sentence, the ellipsis will be

placed
after the period, making a total of four dots. . . . See how that works?
Notice that there is no space between the period and the last
character of the sentence.

The ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in the flow of a

sentence and is especially useful in quoted speech:

Juan thought and thought . . . and then thought some more.

"I'm wondering . . ." Juan said, bemused.
Note carefully the spacing of the ellipsis marks and the surrounding
characters in the examples above. In mid-sentence, a space should
appear between the first and last ellipsis marks and the surrounding
letters. If a quotation is meant to trail off (as in Juan's bemused
thought), leave a space between the last letter and the first ellipsis
mark but do not include a period with the ellipsis marks.
If words are left off at the end of a sentence, and that is all that
omitted, indicate the omission with ellipsis marks (preceded and
followed by a space) and then indicate the end of the sentence with a
period … . If one or more sentences are omitted, end the sentence
before the ellipsis with a period and then insert your ellipsis marks
with a space on both sides. … As in this example.
When words at the beginning of a quoted sentence are omitted, it is
not necessary to use an ellipsis to indicate that words have been left
out when that fragment can fit into the flow of your text. An
exception: in a blockquoted fragment, use an ellipsis to indicate an
omission:

According to Quirk and Greenbaum, the distinctions are unimportant .

. . for count nouns with specific reference to definite and indefinite
pronouns.
However, if the material quoted can be read as a complete sentence,
simply capitalize the first word of the material and leave out the
ellipsis marks:

This principle is described by Quirk and Greenbaum:

The distinctions for count nouns with specific reference to definite and
indefinite pronouns remain unimportant.
When a lengthy quotation begins with a complete sentence and ends
with a complete sentence, do not use an ellipsis at either the end or
the beginning of the quotation unless it is, for some reason, important
to emphasize that some language has been omitted.*
The ellipsis should be regarded as one unit and should not be broken
at the end of a line. Toward that end, it is useful to know the code that
will create an unbroken and unbreakable ellipsis for you on the word-
processing program you are using. On most machines, it's a simple
matter of holding down the option key and hitting the semicolon, but
this varies from program to program. To avoid problems when you
reformat a paper (change margins, font sizes, etc.), the spaces that
surround the ellipsis should also be created as "non-breaking spaces."
The MLA Handbook recommends using square brackets on either side
of the ellipsis points to distinguish between an ellipsis that you've
added and the elllipses that might have been in the original text. Such
a bracketed ellipsis in a quotation would look like this:

"Bohr [. . .] used the analogy of parallel stairways [. . .]" (Smith 55).

(Other research manuals — the APA Publication Manual and the
Chicago Manual of Style — do not address this use of bracketed
ellipses.)
The plural of ellipsis is ellipses (handy to remember when you're
playing Scrabble), but the points themselves (the dots that make up
the ellipsis) are called ellipsis points or ellipsis marks.
*from The Gregg Reference Manual by William A. Sabin. 9th Edition. McGraw-Hill: New York. 2001. Used
with the consent of Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. p. 75.

APOSTROPHE

WebBoard and WebCT Users:

If you discover an apostrophe "problem icon" — —

embedded in your text, that could mean that you
have a problem with a contraction (see below) or a
possessive form.

If your computer is equipped with

PowerPoint, click on the PowerPoint icon to
the right for a brief PowerPoint presentation
on the uses of the apostrophe.
Click HERE for help with Powerpoint.

’
WE USE AN APOSTROPHE [ ] TO CREATE POSSESSIVE FORMS, CONTRACTIONS, AND
SOME PLURALS. The apostrophe shows where a letter or letters have
been left out of a contracted verb:

I am = I'm you are = you're she is = she's it is = it's

do not = don't she would = she'd he would have = he would've
let us = let's who is = who's she will = she'll they had = they'd

Whether or not contractions are appropriate in academic prose is a

matter of personal taste and debate. See the section on Tone for a
discussion of contractions. Also, ask your instructor before using
contractions in a paper that will be graded.

This Guide has an entire section devoted to a description of

possessives. You can click HERE to go to that section (and
accompanying quizzes) or read this summary.

In possessives, the placement of the apostrophe depends on

whether the noun that shows possession is singular or plural.
Generally, if the noun is singular, the apostrophe goes before the s.
The witch's broom. If the noun is plural, the apostrophe goes after the
s: The witches' brooms. However, if the word is pluralized without an
s, the apostrophe comes before the s: He entered the men's room
with an armload of children's clothing. If you create a possessive with
a phrase like of the witches, you will use no apostrophe: the brooms
of the witches.

Remember that it's means it is or it has. Confusing it's with its, the
possessive of it, is perhaps the most common error in writing.
Remember, too, that there is no appropriate contraction for "there
are." Don't confuse "they're," which means "they are" with "there are"
(which can sound like "ther're," [or some such set of rumbling r's] in
casual speech).

An apostrophe is also used to form some plurals, especially the plural

of letters and digits. Raoul got four A's last term and his sister got four
6's in the Olympic ice-skating competition. It is no longer considered
necessary or even correct to create the plural of years or decades or
abbreviations with an apostrophe. He wrote several novels during the
1930s. There are fifteen PhDs on our faculty. My sister and I have
identical IQs. (If you wrote Ph.D. with periods, you would add an
apostrophe before the pluralizing "s": Ph.D.'s) If the abbreviation ends
in "S," it's a good idea to separate this final "S" from the pluralizing
"s" with an apostrophe: SOS's

QUOTATION MARKS

USE QUOTATION MARKS [ “ ” ] TO SET OFF MATERIAL THAT REPRESENTS QUOTED OR

SPOKEN LANGUAGE. Quotation marks also set off the titles of things that
do not normally stand by themselves: short stories, poems, and
articles. Usually, a quotation is set off from the rest of the sentence by
a comma; however, the typography of quoted material can become
quite complicated. Here is one simple rule to remember:

In the United States, periods and commas go inside quotation

marks regardless of logic. Click HERE for an explanation (sort
of).
In the United Kingdom, Canada, and islands under the influence of British education,
punctuation around quotation marks is more apt to follow logic. In American style, then,
you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design." But in England you
would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design". The placement of marks
other than periods and commas follows the logic that quotation marks should
accompany (be right next to) the text being quoted or set apart as a title. Thus, you
would write (on either side of the Atlantic):
 What do you think of Robert Frost's "Design"? and
 I love "Design"; however, my favorite poem was written by Emily
Dickinson.

Further, punctuation around quoted speech or phrases depends on

how it fits into the rest of your text. If a quoted word or phrase fits
into the flow of your sentence without a break or pause, then a
comma may not be necessary:
 The phrase "lovely, dark and deep" begins to suggest ominous overtones.

Following a form of to say, however, you'll almost always need a comma:

 My father always said, "Be careful what you wish for."

If the quoted speech follows an independent clause yet could be part of the same
sentence, use a colon to set off the quoted language:
 My mother's favorite quote was from Shakespeare: "This above all, to
thine own self be true."

When an attribution of speech comes in the middle of quoted language, set it apart as
you would any parenthetical element:
 "I don't care," she said, "what you think about it."

Be careful, though, to begin a new sentence after the attribution if sense calls for it:
 "I don't care," she said. "What do you think?"

Convention normally insists that a new paragraph begins with each

change of speaker:
"I don't care what you think anymore," she said, jauntily tossing back her hair
and looking askance at Edward.
"What do you mean?" he replied.
"What do you mean, 'What do I mean?'" Alberta sniffed. She was becoming
impatient and wished that she were elsewhere.
"You know darn well what I mean!" Edward huffed.
"Have it your way," Alberta added, "if that's how you feel."
In proofreading and editing your writing, remember that quotation
marks always travel in pairs! Well, almost always. When quoted
dialogue carries from one paragraph to another (and to another and
another), the closing quotation mark does not appear until the quoted
language finally ends (although there is a beginning quotation mark
at the start of each new quoted paragraph to remind the reader that
this is quoted language). Also, in parenthetical documentation (see
the Guide to Writing Research Papers), the period comes after the
parenthetical citation which comes after the quotation mark"
(Darling 553).
In reporting "silent speech"—noting that language is "said," but
internally and not spoken out loud—writers are on their own. Writers
can put quotation marks around it or not:
 Oh, what a beautiful morning, Curly said to himself.
 "Oh, what a beautiful morning!" Curly said to himself.

Some writers will set such unspoken language in italics or indent it in

order to set it off from other "regular" language. That's probably not a
good idea if there is a lot of it because the indents can be confusing
and italics can become tiresome to read after a while. The decision
will probably depend on the amount of silent speech within the text.
Probably the best way to handle silent speech is to find an author
whom you like who does a lot of this—Graham Swift in his novel Last
Orders, for instance—and copy that author's style. Consistency, of
course, is very important.

Some interesting things can happen with

verb tenses when we report action in
indirect or reported speech ("The president
said that he was going to Egypt
tomorrow"). For help with this issue, we
would refer to you Professor Mary Nell
Sorensen's Web site at the University of
Washington.

Be careful not to use quotation marks in an attempt to emphasize a

word (the kind of thing you see in grocery store windows—Big "Sale"
Today!). Underline or italicize that word instead. (The quotation marks
will suggest to some people that you are using that word in a special
or peculiar way and that you really mean something else—or that
your sale is entirely bogus.)
The American Medical Association Manual of Style (9th ed, 1998) calls
misused quotation marks like this Apologetic Quotation Marks and
says:

Quotation marks used around words to give special effect or to

indicate irony are usually unnecessary. When irony or special effect is
intended, skillful preparation can take the place of using these quotes.
Resort to apologetic quotation marks or quotation marks used to
express irony only after such attempts have failed, keeping in mind
that the best writing does not rely on apologetic quotation marks. (p
220)
Refer to Capital's Guide for Writing Research Papers and, especially,
the English faculty's Suggestions for Writing Papers for Literature
Courses for further help in handling quotations.
We do not enclose indirect quotations in quotation marks. An
indirect quotation reports what someone says but not in the exact,
original language. Indirect quotations are not heard in the same way
that quoted language is heard.
 The President said that NAFTA would eventually be a boon to small
businesses in both countries.
 Professor Villa told her students the textbooks were not yet in the
bookstore.

Double Punctuation with Quotations

Occasionally — very occasionally, we hope — we come across a
sentence that seems to demand one kind of punctuation mark within
quotation marks and another kind of punctuation mark outside the
quotation marks. A kind of pecking order of punctuation marks takes
over: other marks are stronger than a period and an exclamation
mark is usually stronger than a question mark. If a statement ends in
a quoted question, allow the question mark within the quotation
marks suffice to end the sentence.
 Malcolm X had the courage to ask the younger generation of American
blacks, "What did we do, who preceded you?"

On the other hand, if a question ends with a quoted statement that is not a question, the
question mark will go outside the closing quotation mark.
 Who said, "Fame means when your computer modem is broken, the repair
guy comes out to your house a little faster"?

If a question ends with a quotation containing an exclamation mark, the exclamation

mark will supersede the question and suffice to end the sentence.
 Wasn't it Malcolm X who declared, "Why, that's the most hypocritical
government since the world began!"

A single question mark will suffice to end a quoted question within a question:
 "Didn't he ask, 'What did we do, who preceded you?'" queried Johnson.

Authority for this section: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New
York. 1994. 277. Cited with permission, examples our own.

Single Quotation Marks

In the United States, we use single quotation marks [ ‘ ’ ] to
enclose quoted material (or the titles of poems, stories, articles)
within other quoted material:
 "'Design' is my favorite poem," he said.
 "Did she ask, 'What's going on?'"
 Ralph Ellison recalls the Golden Age of Jazz this way: "It was itself a
texture of fragments, repetitive, nervous, not fully formed; its melodic
lines underground, secret and taunting; its riffs jeering—'Salt peanuts! Salt
peanuts!'"

British practice, again, is quite different. In fact, single-quote marks

and double-quote marks are apt to be reversed in usage. Instructors
in the U.S. should probably take this into account when reading
papers submitted by students who have gone to school in other parts
of the globe.
In newspapers, single quotation marks are used in headlines where
double quotation marks would otherwise appear.
 Congress Cries 'Shame!'
One further use, according to the Chicago Manual of Style: in
philosophical discourse, key concepts may be set apart with single-
quote marks. When such concepts are set off in this way, periods and
commas go outside the single-quote marks:
 Sartre's treatment of 'being', as opposed to his treatment of 'non-being', has
been thoroughly described in Kaufmann's book.

SLASH

A SLASH OR SLANT OR SOLIDUS OR VIRGULE [ / ] (TAKE YOUR PICK OF NAMES) IS USED

TO INDICATE A CHOICE BETWEEN THE WORDS IT SEPARATES.

 Using the pass/fail option backfired on her; she could've gotten an A.

The slash can be translated as or and should not be used where the
word or could not be used in its place. To avoid gender problems with
pronouns, some writers use he/she, his/her, and him/her. Many
authorities despise that construction and urge writers either to
pluralize when possible and appropriate (to they, their, them) or to
use he or she, etc. instead. Notice there is no space between the
slash and the letters on either side of it.
There is, however, a space when the slash is used to indicate a line-
break in quoted poetry: "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep / but I
have promises to keep." (This way of quoting poetry is limited to four
or five lines of verse, within the normal flow of text.)
When using slashes in a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a
World Wide Web address (http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/), be
especially sure not to include spaces and not to confuse the slash
with its backward cousin, \ , used to show file locations on drives.

COMMA

If you have a fast connection to the Internet—a T1

line (available in most computer lab situations), cable
modem, or DSL—click HERE for a more elaborate
version of this page. (Not recommended for 28 or
56k phone-line connections.)

If your computer is equipped with

PowerPoint, click on the PowerPoint icon to
the right for a brief PowerPoint presentation
on comma usage.
Click HERE for help with Powerpoint.
 Use a comma to separate the elements in a series (three or more things),
including the last two. "He hit the ball, dropped the bat, and ran to first base."
You may have learned that the comma before the "and" is unnecessary, which is
fine if you're in control of things. However, there are situations when, if you don't use
this comma (especially when the list is complex or lengthy), these last two items in the
list will try to glom together (like macaroni and cheese). Using a comma between all
the items in a series, including the last two, avoids this problem. This last comma—the
one between the word "and" and the preceding word—is often called the serial comma
or the Oxford comma. In newspaper writing, incidentally, you will seldom find a serial
comma, but that is not necessarily a sign that it should be omitted in academic prose.

Use a comma + a little conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so) to connect
two independent clauses, as in "He hit the ball well, but he ran toward third
base."

Contending that the coordinating conjunction is adequate separation, some writers will
leave out the comma in a sentence with short, balanced independent clauses (such as we
see in the example just given). If there is ever any doubt, however, use the comma, as it
is always correct in this situation.

One of the most frequent errors in comma usage is the placement of a comma after a
coordinating conjunction. We cannot say that the comma will always come before the
conjunction and never after, but it would be a rare event, indeed, that we need to follow
a coordinating conjunction with a comma. When speaking, we do sometimes pause after
the little conjunction, but there is seldom a good reason to put a comma there.

For additional information on coordinating conjunctions, click

HERE. See the note BELOW regarding the use of a comma
between two independent clauses when the second independent
clause begins with a parenthetical element or adverbial clause.

Use a comma to set off introductory elements, as in "Running toward third

base, he suddenly realized how stupid he looked."

It is permissible to omit the comma after a brief introductory element if the omission
does not result in confusion or hesitancy in reading. If there is ever any doubt, use the
comma, as it is always correct. If you would like some additional guidelines on using a
comma after introductory elements, click HERE.
 Use a comma to set off parenthetical elements, as in "The Founders Bridge,
which spans the Connecticut River, is falling down." By "parenthetical element,"
we mean a part of a sentence which can be removed without changing the
essential meaning of that sentence. The parenthetical element is sometimes called
"added information." This is the most difficult rule in punctuation because it is
sometimes unclear what is "added" or "parenthetical" and what is essential to the
meaning of a sentence.

Appositives are almost always treated as parenthetical elements.

 Calhoun's ambition, to become a goalie in professional soccer, is within his

reach.
 Eleanor, his wife of thirty years, suddenly decided to open her own
business.

Sometimes the appositive and the word it identifies are so closely related that the
comma can be omitted, as in "His wife Eleanor suddenly decided to open her own
business." We could argue that the name "Eleanor" is not essential to the meaning of the
sentence (assuming he has only one wife), and that would suggest that we can put
commas both before and after the name (and that would, indeed, be correct). But "his
wife" and "Eleanor" are so close that we can regard the entire phrase as one unit and
leave out the commas. With the phrase turned around, however, we have a more definite
parenthetical element and the commas are necessary: "Eleanor, his wife, suddenly
decided to open her own business." Consider, also, the difference between "College
President Ira Rubenzahl voted to rescind the withdrawal policy" (in which we need the
name "Ira Rubenzahl" or the sentence doesn't make sense) and "Ira Rubenzahl, the
college president, voted to rescind the withdrawal policy" (in which the sentence makes
sense without his title, the appositive, and we treat the appositive as a parenthetical
element, with a pair of commas).

As pointed out above (Rule #3), an adverbial clause that begins a sentence is
set off with a comma:

 Although Queasybreath had spent several years in Antarctica,

he still bundled up warmly in the brisk autumns of Ohio.
 Because Tashonda had learned to study by herself, she was able
to pass the entrance exam.

When an adverbial clause comes later on in the sentence, however, the writer
must determine if the clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence or
not. A "because clause" can be particularly troublesome in this regard. In
 most sentences, a "because clause" is essential to the meaning of the
sentence, and it will not be set off with a comma:
 The Okies had to leave their farms in the midwest because the
drought conditions had ruined their farms.

Sometimes, though, the "because clause" must be set off with a comma to
avoid misreading:
 I knew that President Nixon would resign that morning, because
my sister-in-law worked in the White House and she called me
with the news.

Without that comma, the sentence says that Nixon's resignation was the fault
of my sister-in-law. Nixon did not resign because my sister-in-law worked in
the White House, so we set off that clause to make the meaning clearly
parenthetical.

When a parenthetical element — an interjection, adverbial modifier,

or even an adverbial clause — follows a coordinating conjunction used
to connect two independent clauses, we do not put a comma in front
of the parenthetical element.
 The Red Sox were leading the league at the end of May, but of course, they
always do well in the spring. [no comma after "but"]
 The Yankees didn't do so well in the early going, but frankly, everyone
expects them to win the season. [no comma after "but"]
 The Tigers spent much of the season at the bottom of the league, and even
though they picked up several promising rookies, they expect to be there
again next year. [no comma after "and"]

(This last piece of advice relies on the authority of William Strunk's Elements of Style. Examples our own.)
When both a city's name and that city's state or country's name are
mentioned together, the state or country's name is treated as a
parenthetical element.
 We visited Hartford, Connecticut, last summer.
 Paris, France, is sometimes called "The City of Lights."

When the state becomes a possessive form, this rule is no longer followed:
 Hartford, Connecticut's investment in the insurance industry is well
known.

Also, when the state or country's name becomes part of a compound structure, the
second comma is dropped:
 Heublein, a Hartford, Connecticut-based company, is moving to another
state.
An absolute phrase is always treated as a parenthetical element, as is
an interjection. An addressed person's name is also always
parenthetical. Be sure, however, that the name is that of someone
actually being spoken to. A separate section on Vocatives, the various
forms that a parenthetical element related to an addressed person's
name can take, is also available.
 Their years of training now forgotten, the soldiers broke ranks.
 Yes, it is always a matter, of course, of preparation and attitude.
 I'm telling you, Juanita, I couldn't be more surprised. (I told Juanita I
couldn't be more surprised. [no commas])

Use a comma to separate coordinate adjectives. You could think of this as

"That tall, distinguished, good looking fellow" rule (as opposed to "the little old
lady"). If you can put an and or a but between the adjectives, a comma will
probably belong there. For instance, you could say, "He is a tall and distinguished
fellow" or "I live in a very old and run-down house." So you would write, "He is a tall,
distinguished man" and "I live in a very old, run-down house." But you would probably
not say, "She is a little and old lady," or "I live in a little and purple house," so commas
would not appear between little and old or between little and purple.
Use a comma to set off quoted elements. Because we don't use quoted material
all the time, even when writing, this is probably the most difficult rule to
remember in comma usage. It is a good idea to find a page from an article that
uses several quotations, photocopy that page, and keep it in front of you as a model
when you're writing. Generally, use a comma to separate quoted material from the rest
of the sentence that explains or introduces the quotation:
 Summing up this argument, Peter Coveney writes, "The purpose and
strength of the romantic image of the child had been above all to establish
a relation between childhood and adult consciousness."

If an attribution of a quoted element comes in the middle of the quotation, two commas
will be required. But be careful not to create a comma splice in so doing.
 "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many
things."
 "I should like to buy an egg, please," she said timidly. "How do you sell
them?"

Be careful not to use commas to set off quoted elements introduced by the word that or
quoted elements that are embedded in a larger structure:
 Peter Coveney writes that "[t]he purpose and strength of . . ."
 We often say "Sorry" when we don't really mean it.
And, instead of a comma, use a colon to set off explanatory or introductory language
from a quoted element that is either very formal or long (especially if it's longer than
one sentence):
 Peter Coveney had this to say about the nineteenth-century's use of
children
in fiction: "The purpose and strength of . . . . "

Use commas to set off phrases that express contrast.

 Some say the world will end in ice, not fire.
 It was her money, not her charm or personality, that first attracted him.
 The puppies were cute, but very messy.

(Some writers will leave out the comma that sets off a contrasting phrase beginning with
but.)
Use a comma to avoid confusion. This is often a matter of consistently applying
rule #3.
 For most the year is already finished.
 For most, the year is already finished.
 Outside the lawn was cluttered with hundreds of broken branches.
 Outside, the lawn was cluttered with hundreds of broken branches.

I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and

the rest of the day taking it out.
— Oscar Wilde

Grammar English's Famous Rule of Punctuation: Never use only one

comma between a subject and its verb. "Believing completely and positively
in oneself is essential for success." [Although readers might pause after the
word "oneself," there is no reason to put a comma there.]
Typographical Reasons: Between a city and a state [Hartford, Connecticut],
a date and the year [June 15, 1997], a name and a title when the title comes
after the name [Bob Downey, Professor of English], in long numbers
[5,456,783 and $14,682], etc. Although you will often see a comma between a name and
suffix — Bob Downey, Jr., Richard Harrison, III — this comma is no longer regarded as
necessary by most copy editors, and some individuals — such as Martin Luther King Jr.
— never used a comma there at all.

Note that we use a comma or a set of commas to make the year parenthetical when
the date of the month is included:
  July 4, 1776, is regarded as the birth date of American liberty.

Without the date itself, however, the comma disappears:

 July 1776 was one of the most eventful months in our history.

In international or military format, no commas are used:

 The Declaration of Independence was signed on 4 July 1776.

Use Commas With Caution

As you can see, there are many reasons for using commas, and we haven't
listed them all. Yet the biggest problem that most students have with commas
is their overuse. Some essays look as though the student loaded a shotgun with commas
and blasted away. Remember, too, that a pause in reading is not always a reliable reason
to use a comma. Try not to use a comma unless you can apply a specific rule from this
page to do so.
Concentrating on the proper use of commas is not mere form for
form's sake. Indeed, it causes writers to review their understanding of
structure and to consider carefully how their sentences are crafted.
Try this experiment:
Give your instructor five dollars for each
comma you use in an essay. Your instructor will
return five dollars for each comma used correctly.
You should come out even. This technique for
cutting down on unwanted commas has been
heartily endorsed by every English instructor who
has tried it.

http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm